The Great Escape!
by Wheller
Summary: 100 years in the future, where Equestria is a parliamentary republic and cutie marks don't exist. There is another nation that has grown to be the antithesis of Equestria, the Unified Praesidium of Socialist Republics. After being taken prisoner by the NKVD, Summer Lightfall must join forces with an unlikely band to pull off the greatest escape the world has ever known.
1. Chapter 1

**The Great Escape!**

**Chapter 1**

Five years.

Five long, hard years, and she had never been in one place for very long. As the truck rolled up to her new 'home', she knew that while it would be a different place than the last five places that she'd been at, there would be no difference between any of them.

That was just how the world worked. The Nagadan gulag would be no different. Summer Lightfall let out a sigh as she sat in the back of the truck, watching out the window as it pulled past a gatehouse and into the labour camp proper.

Summer was an Equestrian. A unicorn no less, and here she was being shuffled around once more to endure yet another year of forced labour for the Unified Præsidium of Socialist Republics. Summer hated what they were doing to her, but as far as she was concerned she had something to hate more. Hatred was what was keeping her going, the desire for revenge taking precedent above all others.

This was Madeline Wolsey's fault.

Five years ago. Summer Lightfall had been a soldier in the Equestrian Republican Army's Fillydelphia regiment with the rank of lance corporal. She had been serving under Lieutenant Madeline Wolsey, a direct descendent of Field Marshal Trixie, the Republican Army's greatest leader. Wolsey, unfortunately, was nothing like her grandmother. Wolsey had been inept and careless during the communist uprising in an island nation in the South Sea, known as the Salayan Emergency.

Summer had been taken prisoner by Præsidium Spetsnaz forces, and Wolsey had been left for dead, but in her heart, Summer knew that Wolsey had lived. Her ultimate goal was to escape from the Præsidium and correct that. Madeline Wolsey's inept command had gotten a lot of good ponies killed during the Emergency.

She'd had heard the guards talking at Vorkuta, the last camp that she was at, the Emergency was apparently over now. The Equestrian Republic had won and had been able to defeat the communist uprising. Good for them. Honestly though? She didn't really care. That was the past. The only thing that mattered to her now was putting a bullet between Madeline Wolsey's eyes.

Summer didn't know how, she didn't know when, but she did know this. She would escape from the gulag. Leave the Præsidium behind and return to Equestria where she would find and kill Madeline Wolsey. She would have her revenge, and nothing would stop her.

After that... Summer didn't know. Maybe she'd hang herself, wouldn't be much point in continuing to live afterwards.

That didn't matter now. She had to kill Wolsey first, she would think about what to do afterwards after it had happened.

The truck came to a stop, the doors to the driver's compartment opened, and then immediately shut behind them. She heard some light chatter in the cossack language before the back of the truck opened up. Two cossack soldiers climbed up into the truck, brandishing assault rifles at her.

Summer made no response to them, simply getting up and following them out without putting up any real resistance, she had learned a while ago that trying to do so didn't get anywhere. She would save her strength for the real thing.

Summer walked quietly behind the two cossack soldiers. Only the sounds of her restrains could be heard as they walked towards an interior checkpoint.

''Tolʹko odin? Chto proiskhodit?' one of the guards asked, looking up as the two soldiers escorting Summer approached.

'U nas yestʹ spetsialʹnyye prikazy NKVD, eto odin schitayetsya ochenʹ opasnym, i budet transportirovatʹsya v odinochku', one of Summer's guards said as they walked past.

'Da, da. Nezavisimo, idti vpered do kontsa', the other guard said before motioning them forward.

Summer had mostly understood what they had said. One didn't live in the Præsidium for as long as she did without picking up some of the language. She generally understood what the guards and other prisoners were saying at the labour camps, even if she couldn't speak the language herself. The important thing to get out of the conversation between the Præsidium soldiers was that the NKVD, the Præsidium's intelligence agency, considered Summer to be very dangerous, and wanted her isolated when going between labour camps.

Summer wasn't quite sure why. She'd never caused any major disturbances during her time at any of the work camps. Her anger was not directed towards the Præsidium, she had no desire to do anything to any of the forced labour camps she had been interned in, only to escape, and return to Equestria and kill Madeline Wolsey.

Her guards led her deep into the Nagadan facility to a small concrete cell. It was currently empty, and there was a single wooden bunk for her to sleep on. So far it looked like she would be having the place to herself. That was nice. She'd had a roommate at the last camp she'd been in, and it was not an experience that she wanted to repeat.

'Good news!' one of the Præsidium soldiers said as he unlocked the door to the cell for Summer to go into. 'Gulag is generous, and give you day off from working! Tomorrow you start work in steel mill. Rest up!' the soldier said with a rude grin.

Summer said nothing, and trotted inside the cell. Watching as the guards locked it back up. It seemed that they had been hoping for some kind of response from her, but when she did not give one, they merely walked away from her with a shrug, and went on about their business.

Summer glanced around the cell; it was incredibly barren, with the exception of the wooden bunk and a toilet. She went up to it and pressed down on the flushing trigger. Much to her surprise, the toilet was in working condition. That was nice. All of the other cells in the other labour camps she had been in had had toilets, but this was the first one that had actually worked.

Summer trotted back over to the wooden bunk and sat down on it. She had to wonder how she looked. Her forest green mane was nothing but tangled knots, and her canary yellow coat was stained with dirt and now closer to a piss yellow. Not that it mattered, because pretty much every prisoner was going to be as dirty as she was. Each labour camp had bathing facilities for the prisoners, though they were rarely allowed to use them more than once a month, or when some important member of the communist party came to visit the camp to inspect the workers. That was the only time they were actually given soap, and the only time that the guards turned on the hot water.

Even if given the opportunity to shower. Summer wouldn't. It had to have been mid-November by now. She had made the mistake of showering in November once, never again. She'd almost frozen to death after doing it. The brutal Cossack winter was soon to be on them once more, at this point she was just glad that her prison stripes were enough to keep her somewhat warm.

'Psst!'

Summer glanced around. Where had that noise come from?

'Psst!' the noise came again. Where the hell was that coming from!?

'Hey! You there!'

Summer jumped slightly, someone was around her. 'Who's there?' she asked, continuing to glance around trying to find who was talking to her.

'Who I am isn't important. What is important is you, and who you are. You're a unicorn!' the voice said again.

'Well, good to know you have eyes!' Summer said as she scowled at the faceless voice.

The mysterious voice was clearly male, deep, but not like that of a Cossack. The accent wasn't particularly clear either, but whoever it was belonged here just as much as she did, not at all.

'Equestrian?' the voice asked.

'Yes...' Summer said with annoyance. To be fair, unicorns did exist in small pockets around the world now that Equestria had become globalised. Still, most of the world's unicorns did still reside in Equestria. 'Where are you?'

'I'm in the cell above you! There's a small hole in the floor that I can see you through', the voice said simply.

Summer looked up, sure enough; there was a hole in the ceiling that someone in the cell above could look through and see everything, but unfortunately for Summer. She couldn't see anything of who she was talking to. Summer let out a frown of annoyance as she continued to listen to the voice.

'You're new, that's good! Where do they have you assigned to work?' the voice asked her.

'Steel mill', Summer said simply. The forced labour camps in the Præsidium produced a number of materials for the state. Most of them mined coal or uranium or any hundreds of other useful materials. Apparently, Nagadan had the fortune of being a coal mine. Since they mined coal, then that coal could be used to create steel, and with steel the Præsidium could make pretty much anything.

'Ah! Good! Good! I've been waiting almost a year to get lucky and have someone down there be assigned to the steel mill! Listen very closely, because what I am about to tell you is incredibly important', the voice said simply before Summer interrupted.

'Hold on! Why should I even be talking to you anyway!? For all I know, you're another guard looking for a reason to put the smack down on me!' Summer said with a growl in her voice. 'Who are you?'

The voice was quiet for a moment before answering. 'You wouldn't believe me if I told you my real name. You can call me TANTALUS, that's my code name. I am a Special Executor of the Office of the Prime Minister of the Equestrian Republic'.

Summer frowned. Special Executor? They were basically someone who had been entrusted with authority to carry out a special task for the Republic and the Prime Minister itself. What was one doing here? The likelihood of a gulag guard knowing what a Special Executor was had to have been pretty low. So Summer figured that she'd go along with this... for now. 'Okay... TANTALUS? What is it that you want?'

'You're not the only Equestrian here in Nagadan', TANTALUS said plainly. 'There's another one here. Been here for a very, very long time, earth pony, goes by the name of Sprocket. He's been awful quiet lately... and he's gotten to be pretty good friends with Viktor Karkov... they're up to something, and I want to know what it is... problem is, I work in the coal mines, and Sprocket and Karkov work in the steel mill. So...'

'So you need someone else to find out for you?' Summer said, finishing his thought for him.

''Yes! Exactly!' TANTALUS said with hushed excitement in his voice.

'What makes you think I'm interested?' Summer asked, raising an eyebrow at the voice coming from the hole in the ceiling.

'Talk to Viktor Karkov and to Sprocket. If they're planning what I think they're planning... you will be very interested. Trust me when I say that', TANTALUS said simply.

Summer frowned and thought it over for a moment. The name Sprocket was very familiar to her for some reason. Then it hit her. 'Hold on. Sprocket? You don't mean...'

'Like I said, he's been here a very, VERY long time', TANTALUS said, reaffirming his point.

'All right, fine. I'll do it, I'll talk to them and figure out what they're planning', Summer said, offering a small shrug. After all, what did she have to lose? It wasn't like talking was against the law or anything. And what could the guards possibly do to her? Lock her in a gulag?

''Good! Good! Let me know what you find out!' TANTALUS said before his voice faded away.

Summer nodded, and went over to the small wooden bunk. Tomorrow was going to be a very interesting day. That, she knew for certain.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The clock on the computer terminal struck 1700; that was it. The work day was over, time to go home and relax. Relax, right. Anastasia Hopely let out a deep sigh at the thought. When she considered what today was, there would be no relaxing this evening.

Hopely looked up and watched as Detective Sergeant Ana Kelso approached her. 'Hey Hopely, you heading out?' the earth pony mare asked as she approached.

Hopely looked up and nodded her head in the affirmative. 'Yep', she said simply. Hopely was a detective for the Ponyville Police Service's Serious and Organised Crime Group. Ana Kelso was her direct superior. Kelso was a pale olive coated earth pony mare, she wore her teal mane in a straightened fashion that hung down just past her shoulders, in all points, Ana Kelso was a fairly attractive mare. Hopely admitted, she thought Kelso was kind of cute, but that was it. She had no desires for her superior officer in any way. Especially not today, she had far too much on her mind to even be thinking about sex. Hopely looked up at Kelso for a moment, watching as a frown formed on her face. Clearly she had been expecting more out of her.

'Have you voted today?' Kelso asked.

Crap. It was Election Day wasn't it? Hopely had completely forgotten. She hadn't turned on her television at home in the past month, she knew better than that. The only thing on the telly for the last three months had been political adverts. 'I'm going to be stopping by on my way home from work', Hopely said. 'Not like it matters, since FutureTec manipulates the elections behind the scenes'.

Kelso frowned and shook her head. 'Maybe it doesn't matter now, but it will soon, and I'd like to think that when we fix the system, that social liberals in power is the best way to go', Kelso said simply.

'Uh huh', Hopely said, nodding her head. The members of the PPS' Serious and Organised Crime Group were wrapped up in a secret war against the Equestrian Future Technologies Corporation, known simply as FutureTec; they had discovered that the company had been using its great economic power to manipulate the course of the Equestrian Republic, how long it had been going on, they weren't entirely sure. What they did know was that it had been going on for too long already. They had all vowed to take FutureTec down, so far, they'd had a few victories, but they still had a long way to go. 'I take it you voted PPP?' Hopely asked.

'Yep', Kelso said nodding her head. 'Hasn't been a Parliamentary election that I haven't voted PPP in'.

That was Ana Kelso alright, centre-left as always. Hopely didn't see eye to eye with Kelso on politics, but she didn't continue the conversation any further. There wasn't a point, Hopely was fairly conservative, she was about the furthest right you could be while still calling yourself centre-right. She had learned a long time ago that arguing with the centre-left was pointless.

'Hey, Hopely? Viola and I are meeting up with Sparky and Dizzy around 1900 and going out to dinner, want to come? It'll be fun!' Kelso asked, offering Hopely a smile.

Hopely merely shook her head. 'Sorry Sarge, got things I need to do tonight, thanks for the offer though. Maybe next time', Hopely added, offering Kelso a friendly smile.

'Well alright... see you tomorrow Hopely', Kelso said with a nod before placing her fedora on her head and heading over to the lift.

Hopely packed up her things and trotted over to the lift. Pressing the button and riding down to the bottom level.

…

'Welcome to the Year 100 Parliamentary election! Please state your full name, and the party you wish to represent your constituency'.

Hopely let out a sigh and blinked at the voting terminal before her, almost as if she was debating her choices. She knew better, her vote didn't matter. Not when a mega corporation was the real determiner of the outcome of the election.

'Anastasia Hopely, Equestrian Fascist Party', Hopely said after a moment.

'Thank you! You have successfully voted in the Parliamentary Election. To continue on to the local election, please say "continue". To finish voting, please say "exit"'.

'Exit', Hopely said, rolling her eyes and stepping out of the voting booth. Kelso couldn't complain now, she'd voted. She let out a small chuckle at her choice. The Equestrian Fascist party was a joke, they existed on the books yes, but no one took them seriously. How could you when there were only three actual party members?

The real purpose for the Fascist Party was for protest voting. Didn't like the choices? Vote for them. Actually, the more Hopely thought about it, she was somewhat sure that that was the Fascist Party's slogan.

She left the poll and climbed on her motorcycle and headed for home. She laid herself down on the seat, watching as the holographic canopy materialised over her head. She switched on the autopilot and entered the coordinates for home, as the motorcycle began to move on its' own, turning the corner out of the polling station's parking lot and heading onto the open road. Hopely let out a small sigh and closed her eyes for a minute. She had a lot on her mind.

Five years. It had been five, long hard years since she had made the most important choice in her life. Five years ago, she had chosen to terminate her pregnancy. She told herself that what she had done was for the best, but that didn't make it easy.

Today was the arbitrarily chosen day for what that foal's birthday should be. Her foal would have been five years old, in school and making friends. Hopely couldn't help but feel guilty and selfish at the choice that she had made five years ago. She had murdered her foal before it could even have a chance at life.

Abortions were legal in the Republic, rare, but legal. Improvements in medical technology and contraceptives had rendered accidental pregnancy almost completely nonexistent. Hopely's problem had been that she had not gotten pregnant by accident. Her pregnancy had come about by rape. Hopely could close her eyes and she would find herself back to that day. Lying on the cold hard ground, her overcoat ripped open. She was pinned on the ground, forced to watch as that rat bastard lay on top of her, grinning that stupid grin, moaning softly with pleasure at each thrust. He was in complete control; he had complete power over her. She couldn't scream, she couldn't cry out, oh she had wanted to. She'd even opened her mouth to do it but nothing came out. No one would hear her. No one would come to help her, and it had only turned the bastard on more. She had known her rapist, and that was what had made it so damned enjoyable for him. He was able to do whatever he wanted to her and she could do nothing to stop him. She had seen his face; he had made no attempt to hide it from her. He wanted her to know it was him.

What made the situation worse was the fact that she had orgasmed during the act. Her body had enjoyed it, and it made her sick. When she thought back to that day it was all she could think about. Her body had enjoyed being ravaged by that fucking commie bastard, her mind had saying no and her body had been saying yes. She was disgusted with herself, and when he finally was done and left her there. He knew his control had become complete.

She hated Yuri Tasarov. She wanted nothing more than to catch him alone in a dark alley, just as he had her, and force him to watch as she mutilated him to the point of being unrecognisable. Then, and only then would she show him a mercy that he had failed to show her that day five years ago when he had raped her. She would put a bullet between his eyes and leave him for dead.

A pipe dream, a fantasy, one cannot simply murder the most powerful agent of the Præsidium NKVD. Even if she could get close, she wouldn't be able to for the simple reason that he would not fall into a trap like that. Neither would she, it only takes once for that to happen to make sure it can never again.

Even if she did somehow manage to torture and kill Yuri, that wouldn't be the end of it. If anything were to happen to Yuri, it would be pretty obvious who had done it, especially considering the way she would. Yuri's right hoof operator, another bastard who was just as cold and as sick as he was, Oleg would hunt down each and every one of her friends and torture them for hours before finally killing them. Sparky Starlight, Dizzy Doo, Viola Auditore, Ana Kelso, Amarilla de la Manzana, Juan Carlos... he would find them all, and ensure that they would suffer. He would leave her alive, but the damage would be done to her. She would have to live knowing that in her desire for revenge, she had killed her friends to do it.

Anastasia Hopely had learned a long time ago that the world was a sick and twisted place. This had always been, and it always will be. She pulled up outside her flat, parking her motorcycle and heading upstairs. She opened her front door and locking it right behind her. She pulled off her overcoat and set it down on her sofa before heading into her kitchen. She opened the refrigerator and pulled out a pan and set it on her kitchen table. It was a birthday cake that she had gotten for the occasion. She looked down on it, reading the text written in icing over and over again. 'Happy fifth birthday!' it read.

Sticking out of it were five small candles, one for each year. She took an elongated utility lighter in her teeth, and lit each of the candles one by one.

'Happy birthday to you... happy birthday to you... happy birthday, happy birthday... happy birthday to you...' Hopely said as tears formed in her eyes. She waited for a moment, and then blew out the candles for her unborn foal. She picked up the tray with the cake and promptly tossed it into the rubbish bin before opening up her refrigerator again and pulling out a half full bottle of whiskey. She opened it up and drank the remaining contents in one go before tossing the empty bottle at the wall and falling to the floor in tears. Knowing that this would be how she would spend every one of her unborn foal's birthdays, and she would be the only one who ever remembered it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Summer Lightfall took a deep breath as she entered the steel mill. Stepping inside, she watched as three of the prisoners with protective masks over their faces dumped a bucket of molten iron into a mould for a steel bar. The room was hot, and it was loud. Still, with winter rapidly approaching, Summer couldn't complain. At least while working in here she wouldn't have to worry about freezing to death. Summer remembered what it was like working in the mines during the winter; she shivered as memories of the cold came back to her.

She took a look around, casing the area, getting familiar with where the each of the guards patrolled at. Nagadan was a no nonsense kind of place, that she could see plainly. There were four guards in the room, each of them patrolled along catwalks above the worksite, which was good for them, she figured, because the guards would be able to see very little talking going on, and would be able to hear none of it.

Excellent! Summer let out a small smile; maybe this TANTALUS person wasn't so full of shite after all. This place was perfect for planning something, as long as they kept up their work while they were doing it, the guards would be none the wiser.

Summer turned and began to walk along the perimeter of the room, she needed to find Sprocket, get in on what he was planning with Viktor Karkov, whoever that was. She got no further than five steps before she found herself running into someone. She was surprised when she had discovered that it was indeed a someone, and that that someone was built like a brick wall. Summer stumbled back and looked up to see what was likely the biggest creature she had ever seen. Standing at two hundred and fifty centimetres tall, and looking down on her in slight annoyance was a bipedal creature unlike which Summer had ever seen before. The creature had the face of a bull, with horns that looked as if they could skewer a pony whole. One of his eyes was missing, and in its' place was a heavily outdated cybernetic replacement. The more Summer looked at him; he was more machine than anything else. What little of him that was still organic was his massive chest, his right arm had massive biceps that looked like he could crush her head with a single flex of them. His left arm was cybernetic, and half missing, it looked to have been blown off at the elbow, likely from a large calibre bullet. Both his legs were cybernetic, and looked to be in the best condition of all of him. Summer knew what he was, this was a minotaur, but she had never thought that she would actually see one. They very rarely left their own country. The minotaur looked at her and offered a scowl.

'If someone doesn't start paying attention, they will soon find themselves being corrected!' The minotaur said with a huff as he pushed past her and went about his business. Summer glanced upwards, one of the guards had taken notice of the scuffle and had his rifle pointed down at them. Summer ignored him and went back to it. No harm, no foul. Now it was time to find Sprocket.

It wasn't that hard, fortunate to say. Summer turned around the corner and that was when she saw him. Sprocket was an old pony, one of the oldest still alive. He had to be a hundred and ten at this point. His body was filled with outdated cybernetics not unlike the minotaur. TANTALUS was right; he had been out here for a while. What was left of Sprocket's coat was a dirty brown, though those patches of those were few and far between. All four of Sprocket's legs had been replaced with cybernetics that had been beaten up and dented for who knows how many years of abuse.

His eyes were charcoal black, with a single red dot in the centre of them. Old style ocular implants had to be the most creepy, unnatural looking part of him. Had she not known who this was, she might have found him frightening.

This had confirmed it. This Sprocket was the Sprocket she thought it was. In the days before the Great Patriotic War, FutureTec had been lead by Sprocket as the company's chief executive officer, before that, he was known as the Techno-Wizard, one of the greatest scientific minds ever to live in Equestria. He had been at the cutting edge of science, his research into robotics and Artificial Intelligence put Equestria on the path to a golden age of science and industry... just not the one that he had intended.

Sprocket had been part of FutureTec's AP/VI project, and had created the first Virtual Intelligence, called Mr. Happy. The prototype VI was, to be frank, dangerous and unstable, and had caused the deaths of seven researchers due to compatibility issues with the robot chassis that it had been operating. Because of this, science shifted away from robotic hardware to VI software.

To say Sprocket was disappointed would have been an understatement. He became recluse, and when the Great Patriotic War broke out, he headed to the continent, volunteering to help the Schäferhund with weapons research, where he was never heard from again.

It became pretty clear what had happened. He must have been taken prisoner during the war and shipped around the gulag camps for the last 60 years or so. That was problematic; the Præsidium had made numerous claims that all prisoners from the Great Patriotic War had been released by Year 42 of the Republic. They lied, clearly, though that really should not have been much of a surprise.

One of Sprocket's eyes turned towards her, he had noticed that she was standing there and let out a deep sigh before turning to face her. He opened his mouth to speak, but then he stopped, and closed his mouth. He stood looking at her for a moment, almost as if he did not believe his own eyes before opening his mouth again to speak. 'You... are... a unicorn', he said slowly, almost as if he had forgotten how to speak his native language.

'Yes', Summer said nodding her head. 'Glad to know you have working eyes', she added sarcastically.

Sprocket let out a smirk at her comment. 'Most of the time, they glitch on occasion thanks to the lack of proper maintenance... the guards won't let me near tools and I don't trust anyone else to do anything with them, so I am kind of stuck there', Sprocket added with a shrug.

Sprocket glanced around the room for a moment before he waved Summer over. Summer trotted up to him slowly, glancing up towards the catwalks to check where the guard's attentions were at. They were most certainly looking down upon them and that was when Summer realised what Sprocket was doing, he had brought her next to the control console of one of the steel mill's machines, and occasionally gestured to it as he spoke. To the guards, it would look like he was showing her how to work the machine.

'Do you know who I am?' Sprocket asked.

Summer nodded her head in affirmation.

'Tell me of Equestria, it has be so long since I have heard anything of Equestria', Sprocket said, a look of longing appearing on his face. Summer frowned; so much had happened that he had missed.

'What do you want to know?' she asked. Sprocket was silent for a moment, and gestured to the machine twice before offering up an answer.

'Tell me, is Scootaloo still alive?' He asked.

Summer had to think about that for a moment. Scootaloo was the Republic's second Prime Minister. She knew why Sprocket was asking, and she offered him a frown before shaking her head in the negative. 'I'm afraid not', Summer said, offering him a consoling look.

'I see...' Sprocket said frowning. 'Do you know how she died?'

'Natural causes I think? She died some twenty years ago', Summer said with a shrug.

Sprocket nodded. 'Well... at least there is that', he said with a sigh. Summer knew a lot about Sprocket. She had written a paper on him when she was in high school, and she knew that Scootaloo had been Sprocket's wife. He must have known that the likelihood of ever seeing her again was low, but now he knew that it would never be again. 'I suppose that I knew, on some level... but I guess it is nice knowing now, at least she died peacefully... do you know anything about my daughter?'

Summer frowned and shook her head. Both Sprocket and Scootaloo had been public figures, she had known about their daughter. That they'd had one anyway, but unlike her parents, she had kept herself out of public life, preferring to have a normal life and a normal job. If she was still alive, Summer was not sure.

'Fair enough', Sprocket said, gesturing to the machine once more for the guards.

'Now it is my turn to ask you something', Summer said.

Sprocket raised an eyebrow at her, but nodded his head and motioned for her to speak.

'I know you are planning something. Something big', Summer said, offering him a small smile.

'I have no idea as to what you're referring...' Sprocket began before being interrupted.

'Save it. I know you and Victor Karkov are planning something', Summer said, bluffing and hoping that dropping Karkov's name would get Sprocket to open up to her. 'I want in'.

'I see...' Sprocket said nodding his head. 'Well then... I think that's something we can set up', he said offering her a smile, leaning forward and whispering into her ear. 'We are planning to escape!'


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Anastasia Hopely's eyes slowly drifted open. She heard a buzzing noise in her head. She glanced around and discovered that she was lying on her kitchen floor, she must have passed out. She rolled over onto her back and looked up at the ceiling and let out a sigh. She hadn't passed out from drinking since her third year at University.

She heard the buzz again. That was when she realised, that it wasn't in her head. It was someone at her door. Hopely rolled back over onto her stomach and discovered several empty bottles of whiskey lying on the floor around her.

The door buzzed again, Hopely looked over to it and then back down at the bottles on the floor. She couldn't answer the door with all of these lying around. 'Just a minute!' she called out as the door buzzed again. She pushed all the bottles into a corner and dropped a dish towel that was lying on the counter over them before heading over to the door. She reached up and brushed her mane back into its' usual shape with a hoof before opening the door. She was surprised to discover who it was.

'Finally! I thought you had gone deaf!' Otto Büchsenmacher said with a scowl.

Otto Büchsenmacher was a schäferhund 'information retrieval specialist', working for the Ponyville Police Service. And by 'information retrieval specialist', she of course meant computer hacker, and by working for the PPS, she meant working for DCI Auditore, who had evidence that he had hacked into the website for the Welaran Home Office and put up an edited the image of King William of Welara to one of him wearing a dress. Needless to say, the Welarans weren't happy about that, and that was enough to keep the dog in line.

Schäferhund were a race of quadrupedal carnivorous canines. Otto himself was twice as large as Hopely, with thick matte black fur, dark and beady eyes that almost blended in with his face. His teeth were sharp and had the capability to rip and tear through flesh. All and all, schäferhund were intimidating. Except for Otto, he was a complete wuss. If Hopely just lightly bopped him on the nose he would probably start crying.

'What do you want Otto?' Hopely asked with a sigh.

'"What do you want Otto?" She says', Otto said with a huff. 'No "hello Otto, how are you doing this morning?" Typical'.

'Otto I am not in the mood for any shite from you right now so...' Hopely began before Otto raised his leg to interrupt her.

'If I may? I merely came down here on the instruction of DCI Auditore to find out the reason for why you did not show up for work this morning, and I've already figured out the reason', Otto said as he made his way inside the flat.

A blank look formed on Hopely's face, and she turned to look at the clock in her flat. To her dismay, it was a quarter past eleven in the morning. She should have been into work some four hours ago. She closed the door behind Otto and turned to face him. 'What do you mean you know the reason?' she asked, nervous of what the dog would say next.

'You are hung over, Detective Constable Hopely', Otto said as he sat down on her sofa.

'No I'm not', Hopely lied, hoping that Otto didn't have the social skills to see through it.

Otto looked blankly at her for a moment. 'Hopely. I am schäferhund, do you know what our main recreation activity is?' he asked.

'Shooting your guns at the firing range?' Hopely asked.

Otto was silent for a moment, tossing his head back and forth before nodding in affirmation. 'Ja... I suppose it is... do you know what our second main recreation activity is?' Otto asked.

'Um...' Hopely said, thinking about it for a moment before being interrupted.

'It is going out to Beer Halls and drinking, I think I know when someone has been drinking', Otto said triumphantly.

Well fuck. Hopely had to admit that Otto had her there. She looked at the schäferhund nervously as a smile formed on his face. He was already thinking of how he could use this situation to his advantage. Hopely wasn't about to let that happen.

'I'm certain that you would not wish DCI Auditore to learn of this, ja? What is my silence worth to you?' Otto asked as his smile turned into a cheeky grin on his face.

'How about you don't tell DCI Auditore, and I won't bash your teeth out with my hoof?' Hopely said, taking an aggressive step towards the dog and kicking out with her hoof, not coming anywhere close to his muzzle, but still causing him to flinch.

'Alright! Alright! You win!' Otto said as he shifted on the sofa away from her, wondering why he even thought that trying to blackmail her was a good idea.

'Good', Hopely said rolling her eyes, typical Otto, all bark and no bite. 'Now, I want you to go back down town and tell DCI Auditore... I'm taking a holiday, and that I'm sorry for not telling her personally'.

'Alright, alright', Otto said as he got up from the sofa and trotted back over to the door, mumbling to himself as he went over to it.

'And Otto?' Hopely said, causing the dog to look back over to her. 'You tell anyone about what happened here and I'll...' Hopely didn't bother finishing the sentence; instead, she made a quick motion with her foreleg across her neck. Otto understood very clearly. If he talked she would hurt him. He opened the door and shut it quickly behind him.

Hopely let out a sigh and went into her bedroom. She pulled off her overcoat that she had neglected to take off the night before, allowing it to fall to the floor and climbing into her bed and lying back. This was good, she just needed a little time to relax and calm herself down after what had happened last night.

Hopely rarely took any of her holidays and sick days. Each year, each constable in the Ponyville Police Service was given twelve sick days and twenty four holidays for the entire year, so far, Hopely had only used ten, they had to use all of them before the year was up or they would get into trouble. Hopely had gotten into trouble with the PPS last year because she had only used five out of the total thirty six days.

She blinked, watching as the ceiling fan above her rotated slowly. She just watched as her eyes became heavy, too heavy to keep open. She decided that she would just rest her eyes for a moment, she closed them and before she knew it she had drifted off to sleep.

…

Hopely's eyes shot open as she heard the buzzing noise of her door. She looked over to the clock sitting on her bedside table. It was 1702, shite! She'd fallen back asleep and had been out for just over six hours! She rolled out of bed, forgetting put on her overcoat as she trotted over to the door and opened it up.

'Hiya Hopely! How are you doing today?! Oh hey! You're not wearing your overcoat! I've never seen you without it before! That's neat!' said the obnoxious pink ball of energy that was Pinkie Pie. 'May I come in?'

Hopely looked down and discovered that she indeed wasn't wearing her overcoat and blushed lightly in embarrassment. 'Um sure Pinkie Pie... come on in', Hopely said as she showed the obnoxious pink pony into her flat. She quickly trotted back into her bedroom and grabbed her overcoat and haphazardly threw it back on.

While really, there wasn't any sort of social stigma attached to nudity in the Equestrian Republic, wearing clothes had become the norm in their society for purely functional reasons, the most important being pockets. Pockets were useful, and Hopely made a use of them pretty much every day, still, while there wasn't anything considered wrong with not wearing clothes, Hopely didn't like being naked around other people, it made her feel uncomfortable.

She trotted back into the main room; Pinkie Pie was standing in the kitchen looking at the towel that Hopely had tossed over the empty bottles of alcohol. She picked up the towel and discovered the bottles, but merely gave them a shrug and picked them up and set them on the counter, rinsing them out in the sink before putting them in the recycling container next to the door.

'You don't have to do that', Hopely said, eyes widening as Pinkie Pie had discovered the binge drinking escapade that Hopely had undertaken the night before.

'I know, but it looks like you had a rough night last night, and I want to help out!' Pinkie Pie said with a bright smile.

Hopely liked that about her, Pinkie Pie wasn't judgemental like other ponies were, when she thought about it, she figured it might have had something to do with the fact that Pinkie Pie wasn't really a pony at all. This Pinkie Pie was actually a changeling that had been imprinted with the memories, and thus, personality of a pony who lived during the Old Monarchy by FutureTec as part of some convoluted experiment into the creation of artificial intelligences. Hopely didn't claim to understand the project; she was a language and history person, not science and mathematics. 'Why are you here, Pinkie Pie?' Hopely asked after a moment.

'Oh, Kelso and Viola are having a romantic evening in. Kelso was going to be cooking for Viola, and then likely ordering Pizza after she sets it all on fire!' Pinkie Pie said cheerfully.

Hopely nodded her head in agreement. Ana Kelso couldn't cook to save her life.

'So! I figured, "Hey! Hopely's single and likely to not be having any romantic evenings with a colt/mare friend that she doesn't have! I'll go see if she wants to go get dinner with me!" So then I came over here. Want to go out and get Māo Xióng take out with me?' Pinkie Pie asked.

Hopely wasn't sure if she should be insulted by Pinkie Pie's insinuations or not. She decided to ignore them and focus on a more important question instead. 'Pinkie Pie... you're a changeling... you don't eat food', Hopely said.

'While I look like a pony, I've got a pony's digestive system, which means I can process food! It doesn't give me sustenance, but it quiets hunger for a little while until I feed', Pinkie Pie said with a shrug. 'Not to mention that most foods taste really good! Like Māo Xióng! Now come on! Want to go with me?' Pinkie Pie asked.

Hopely did have to admit. She was a little hungry, she hadn't eaten all day. 'Sure, why not. Know a good place?' Hopely asked.

'Yep! I know a great place! I'll upload the coordinates to your motorcycle's navicomputer!' Pinkie Pie said as she brought up her foreleg and opened the MIP's holographic keyboard.

'Speaking of my motorcycle, how did you get here anyway? Take the bus?' Hopely asked as she zipped up her overcoat.

'Nah, Doctor Fontaine's financials are locked out on this thing, so I can't swipe it for the city busses', Pinkie Pie said, gesturing with the FutureTec issue MIP on her fetlock. 'I walked'.

'What? Pinkie Pie! DS Kelso and DCI Auditore's flat is in Downtown West!' Hopely cried out.

'Yeah, and?' Pinkie Pie asked as she continued to type at the holographic keyboard of her MIP.

'I live in Whitetail... did you seriously walk all the way here from Downtown West?' Hopely asked.

'Uh huh! Only took me four and a half hours!' Pinkie Pie said cheerfully.

'We really need to get you a Bus Chit', Hopely added with a sigh and a facehoof. 'Where is this place we're going anyway?' she added as Pinkie Pie closed the holographic keyboard and started walking over to the front door.

Pinkie Pie turned back to Hopely and gave her a huge smile. 'Oh it's this great place in Downtown Central! Kelso took me there when we first met and their rice is so good! You'll love it!'


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

'A break out? Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure!?' TANTALUS asked as Summer spoke to the mysterious voice from the cell above her. Summer merely nodded her head in affirmation, relaying what Sprocket had told her.

She had no further information than that. Sprocket had said that it was a bad idea to spend too much time talking about it while working, the likelihood of being overheard was low, but occasionally the steel mill did grow quiet enough for conversations to be heard. Worse still, idle conversation while working was prohibited, Sprocket and Summer had been able to get away with what talking they did do by pretending to show her how to work the machines.

'A break out... of course, how could I have been so stupid as to not think of that...' TANTALUS said with worry in his voice. 'I'm getting dull... been here for far too long... Summer? Have you met Karkov yet?'

'No', Summer said, shaking her head in the negative. 'Sprocket didn't think it was a good idea, the guards started watching us for a while when we were spending a fair bit of time with each other. Sprocket was worried that they didn't buy the cover of him showing me how to work the machines, said it was too dangerous to talk to Karkov today...'

'I see... he's organising the Steel Mill workers... but can't get the miners... so then that means that...' TANTALUS' voice said before trailing off. He was silent for a moment; Summer almost asked him if he was still there, before another response came through the hole in her ceiling. 'Let me tell you about Viktor Karkov, he was an officer in their army before being sent here, his commanding officer had done him wrong and he killed him. Karkov is ruthless and doesn't do subtle. His break out isn't a simple tunnel out or cut through a fence at night while no one is looking. It's going to be a full on prison revolt... has to be...'

Summer waited for TANTALUS to speak again. He was silent for a long time, too long, Summer was starting to get impatient with him. 'And? What's your point? 'she asked finally.

'My point? My point!? My point is that a violent revolt is going to do nothing but get everyone held in this camp killed! That's what! Karkov is the kind of person to throw lives away on a lost cause, he did it during their Invasion of the Capran Republic, and he'll do it here too!' TANTALUS cried out.

Summer blinked, and thought about what the mysterious voice had said for a moment. 'So... you don't want to escape?' she asked.

'I... what?! You can't be serious, even after everything I've told you, you still want to take part in this uprising?' TANTALUS asked, understanding immediately what Summer had meant by her question.

'Yes', Summer said nodding her head in affirmation. To be frank? She didn't see a problem with what TANTALUS had said in the slightest bit, she didn't care about the lives of the other prisoners, she didn't care how many would die in such a revolt. All she cared about was getting out, returning to Equestria, and putting a bullet between Madeline Wolsey's eyes. She didn't care what she had to do, or how many had to die for this to occur. She would sacrifice the entire prison population, including TANTALUS, Sprocket, and Karkov to do it if she had to.

'All those lives! Thrown away like that... all so that one person can have his revenge on the system that put him in here...' TANTALUS began before being interrupted.

'Sacrifices worth making', Summer said. 'Karkov and I have something in common in that regard. Revenge is all that's kept me going these last five years. I don't care what has to be done in order to achieve it, but it will be done'.

TANTALUS was silent again. 'I regret ever speaking to you', he said finally after what seemed like an eternity. 'You're just as much a monster as Viktor Karkov, and it's going to come back to bite you, hard'.

She heard TANTALUS get up in the cell above her; she heard his steps fall as he walked away from the crack between their two cells. She knew that she would never again speak to TANTALUS through the crack in the ceiling, but honestly? She really didn't care. Whatever happened to TANTALUS after this was no concern of her. She only had two concerns in her life, and that was escape, and exacting her revenge upon Madeline Wolsey.

Summer trotted over to her bunk and laid herself down on it, shutting her eyes to try and get some rest. She had to wonder what Wolsey was doing right now. She hoped that her former commanding officer was having the time of her life, she hoped that the mare that had gotten everyone killed during the Emergency was enjoying the time she had left, because now Summer knew for certain. Madeline Wolsey would not have much time left.

…

Madeline Wolsey let out a sigh of pleasure as she lay under the covers of her bed, looking up longingly at the stallion sharing her bed with her, she leaned forward and kissed her lover's lips. She needed this, she had needed this bad. It had been a long time since she had felt the embrace of another living being like this.

'Sjaak...' Wolsey moaned quietly.

The afrikneigher stallion smiled at her as he nuzzled her gently, kissing his lover's neck. 'I've been looking forward to this all month', he said softly.

Wolsey nodded in agreement as she leaned forward to kiss him again. It had felt like an eternity since she had last made love, and now she finally had the opportunity to sit back and relax.

Five years, five long years to bring her to this point. She had been honourably discharged from the Fillydelphia regiment after being shot during the Salayan Emergency, she'd been rehabilitated, and was back to living a normal life. A couple months after coming back, she'd gotten involved in politics, and had worked her way up through the ranks of the Ponies' Progressive Party. She'd even served as the Member of Parliament for Fillydelphia Central. Before she knew it, she had become the head of the party at the national level, and when the results from the election came in... if the PPP held the majority of votes, she would be forming a government with herself as the Prime Minister! Imagine that! The idea excited Wolsey; she had to admit, not as much as the embrace of her lover, Sjaak De Vries, but almost as much.

Sjaak De Vries was an afrikneigher pony, an immigrant from the nation of Zhosa-Borwa on the continent of L'afrique. Afrikneighers were the pony minority in a land full of zebras, but while being the minority, afrikneighers made up the majority of the middle class, and nearly all of the upper class, and held the political power in Zhosa-Borwa. Sjaak was in his early thirties, just like she. His coat was a light crème colour, and his mane a jet black, slicked back in a professional cut. She had met him during her time as MP for Fillydelphia Central. Sjaak De Vries was a Senior Systems Analyst for FutureTec, working at Station BRIGHTHOUSE in the Whitetail Industrial Complex in Ponyville on the Discovery Project. Wolsey liked him a lot; he was the shy, quiet type around her. He was a gentle lover and would cater to her every whim if she let him. It was kind of funny how different he was when they were alone when they were around other people.

When they were in public, Sjaak was a sardonic bastard, hardly a people person. He'd been passed over for a promotion to the administrator of station BRIGHTHOUSE in favour of some nobody named Sparkplug Starlight because of this. She had spent many hours soothing his ego afterwards, and frankly, she had been okay with it. She liked Sjaak, he was kind to her, the sex was pretty good, and it offered her a chance to escape for a little while from the problems that she had.

Wolsey did not deserve the honourable discharged that had been given to her. She had led the soldiers under her command into an ambush; she'd frozen up and gotten a lot of people killed. She'd ordered a retreat and only three of her platoon had escaped alive. Her and two others...

She couldn't remember their names, as much as Wolsey struggled, she could not remember their names! She remembered the canary yellow unicorn mare, that had threatened to kill her just as she had been dragged off into the jungle by two Præsidium Spetsnaz soldiers. Wolsey had never told anyone, not even Sjaak the true story of what had happened. How could she? It would ruin her if anyone found out the truth. She had been seen as a war hero, sole survivor of a unit that was wiped out in a valiant fight. No one could know the truth, she felt guilty over what had happened to the canary yellow unicorn mare who had threatened her, but not enough to admit the truth.

'Are you alright?' Sjaak asked her.

Wolsey looked up at her lover as he lay on top of her. She had almost forgotten that he was there. 'I... yeah, I'm sorry, just nervous about the election is all', she lied. Sjaak seemed to buy it; he pulled out of her and rolled over onto his back. 'I'm sorry...' Wolsey added with a frown.

'It is alright', Sjaak said, taking her foreleg in his, leaning forward to kiss her on the cheek. 'Relax, go to sleep, in the morning we will see the results of the election'.

Wolsey nodded and kissed her lover back, the two of them rolled over, and Sjaak went to sleep. Wolsey, however, would not be getting any sleep that night. She had not thought about the canary yellow unicorn mare that she could not remember the name of in a long time, and she would be occupying her mind for the rest of the night.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Hopely sat back as her motorcycle drifted through the streets; she glanced up at the holographic canopy above her as it displayed navigational information. There was a map that displayed the route that they were taking, how fast they were going, where exactly their end destination was. Looking at the map, it became pretty clear that this place was pretty far out of the way.

'How did you learn about this place again?' Hopely asked, calling over to Pinkie Pie, who was sitting in the holographic confines of her motorcycle's deployable side car.

'Kelso took me here when we first met, before I even knew I was a changeling. Their food is really good! I should know, I accidentally devoured all of it while Kelso was working out a dispute with the owner', Pinkie Pie said with a smile.

Pinkie Pie was clearly enjoying the ride; she had the canopy retracted pretty much all the way, allowing the wind to whip through her mane. It was going to be nothing but a tangled mess by the time that they got there. Hopely thought about it for a moment before realising that Pinkie Pie's mane was always a tangled mess, so what she was doing really wouldn't matter.

Hopely still had a lot on her mind, what had happened last night... it wasn't like this was the first year she 'celebrated' the 'birth' of her foal, her poor nameless, genderless, innocent foal. It had been five years, but in those five years, this was the first time Hopely had ever spiralled out of control like she had. Last night was a terrible night, but was this an indication of things to come? Of that she could not be sure. What she did know was this, what had happened last night could not be allowed to happen again.

'Hopely? Hellooo? Belleau to Hopely, come in Hopely, do you read us?!' Pinkie Pie said as she waved her hoof over her eyes.

Hopely snapped to attention, and discovered that they had pulled up outside the restaurant. Māo Xióng Yī was a small restaurant in a storefront. Of course, it was a takeout place, so how much space did you really need? As she looked around the place, Hopely noticed that the restaurant was decorated with paraphernalia from the Peking Republic. She let out a sigh of relief, the owner wasn't a communist. Though, Hopely was pretty sure that if he was a communist, he wouldn't own a takeout restaurant. The Māo Xióng owner was standing behind the counter, looking at the two ponies intensely as they walked up to him. The Māo Xióng were a large, bear like people with black and white alternating fur. It was almost comical, because the owner looked to be incredibly uncomfortable; he barely fit in his own restaurant. The Māo Xióng species were much larger than ponies, and because of their large size, it made manoeuvring around difficult.

'You no call ahead?' the owner asked as he looked them over.

'Uh... no, is that a problem?' Hopely asked.

'Call ahead preferred', the owner said with a huff. Hopely was half tempted to make a snide remark about how she didn't have to patronise his restaurant, but decided against it, she was pretty hungry and didn't feel like going anywhere else. Also she didn't want him to spit in their food.

'I'll do that next time', Hopely said with a shrug as she glanced at the menu for a few seconds. 'Two large orders of fried rice and an order of spring rolls, please', Hopely said as she ordered their food.

The owner tapped at his cash register for a few moments before looking back up at her. 'Eight pound forty five, cash only', he said with a huff.

Hopely was starting to get annoyed with this bastard, but said nothing. She pulled out her wallet and placed a ten Equestrian pound note on the counter. The owner inspected it for a moment before putting it in the cash register and giving her back her change, almost as if he thought there was a chance it might not be real.

The owner went back and started cooking their food. They waited for about five minutes before the owner came back with a bag for their food and passed it over to them. 'Here go', he said in his usual huff.

Hopely took the bag in her teeth and motioned for Pinkie Pie to follow her; they exited the restaurant and took a seat on a nearby bus stop bench. Hopely had to admit, she had been hungry before, but now she was starving. She opened up the bag and looked inside, seeing two containers of fried rice. 'Hey! There aren't any spring rolls in here!' Hopely said before passing the bag over to Pinkie Pie. 'Hold this a moment, I'm sure he just forgot to put them in'.

Pinkie Pie nodded her head and took the bag, watching as Hopely got up and went back inside the restaurant. She was hungry too, so she opened up one of the cartons, and let out a sigh of pleasure as the wonderful aroma of the fried rice filled her nostrils. She knew that she should wait for Hopely before eating any... but it smelled so good, and was hot and fresh! One bite couldn't hurt.

Before she knew it, both cartons of fried rice lay empty on the ground, she had practically inhaled both of them.

The door to Māo Xióng Yī flung open and Hopely stormed out, turning around and shouting at the owner as she left. 'You are so fucking lucky that I'm a Police Constable! Or I would burn your fucking restaurant to the ground!' Hopely screamed as she walked away.

'Ér nǐ tā mā dì nàme xìngyùn, wǒ bù dǎ nǐ yòng bǎn qiú qiú bàng!' the voice of the owner called back as the door shut behind Hopely.

'What happened?' Pinkie Pie asked as Hopely walked up to her.

'Fucking cheapskate claimed I didn't pay for spring rolls... so I don't get any spring rolls', Hopely said with a grumble.

Pinkie Pie stopped and thought about it for a moment. 'Huh', she said, tilting her head back and forth as she remembered the previous time she was here.

'What?' Hopely asked.

'The same thing happened with Kelso when we were here the last time!' Pinkie Pie said.

'And you're not just mentioning this until now!?' Hopely cried out.

'Huh, now that I think of it, Kelso might be banned from coming here…' Pinkie Pie said.

Hopely let out a sigh of frustration, at least there was fried rice for her to eat. She looked onto the ground and saw the two empty cartons. She stared at them with disbelief and then looked up at Pinkie Pie. 'Oh you have got to be kidding me!' she cried out in frustration.

Pinkie Pie offered her a nervous chuckle before picking up the empty cartons and putting them in the bag. 'I happen to know another restaurant...'

…

As Hopely sat munching on a slice of Port Pizza's mushroom and pepper pizza, she looked over at Pinkie Pie, watching as the changeling pretending to be a pony herself watched the foals running around having fun. 'Are you feeding off them?' Hopely asked.

'Uh huh', Pinkie Pie said nodding her head in affirmation. 'Feeding is passive, can't control it one way or another… at least, I don't think I can', Pinkie Pie said with a shrug. 'To be honest with you, Hopely, I really don't know how my body works'.

Hopely shrugged as she took another bite of her pizza. 'You want a slice?' Hopely asked, she had ordered a medium pizza, but this was her second slice and she was already starting to get full. Hopely figured that the rest of it wouldn't be too much of a problem for a big eater like Pinkie Pie.

The changeling pretending to be a pony shuttered at the thought. 'No thank you, I… I mean, the original Pinkie Pie had a really really really really really really really really REALLY bad experience with mushrooms once, and just looking at them makes me feel really uneasy', Pinkie Pie said with a shrug.

Hopely had to wonder exactly what she meant by that, but it clearly was something that had bothered her quite a bit, and she decided not to press further. 'Fair enough', Hopely added with a shrug as she finished the slice of pizza and boxed up the rest.

'I'm thinking of changing my look', Pinkie Pie said finally.

'I thought you said that you didn't know how your body worked?' Hopely asked, raising an eyebrow.

'Oh, I don't! I meant like… my mane and tail style. I might look like Pinkie Pie, I might sound like Pinkie Pie, hell, I even think like Pinkie Pie, but no matter how much I want to be, I am not Pinkie Pie. This poofiness? It's really a Pinkie Pie look… am I making sense?' Pinkie Pie asked.

'I think so…' Hopely said. 'You want to be your own person; you don't want to hold on to what's defining you when it isn't you'.

'Yeah! Exactly! I think I should come up with a new name too, eventually someone's going to recognise the name Pinkie Pie…' Pinkie Pie said.

'How about Felicity? It fits, trust me on that', Hopely said with a smirk.

'I like it! That's me now! Felicity!' the mare who would now be forever known as Felicity said with a bright smile.

Felicity, it meant happiness, and knowing her, she could always find something to be happy about. The more Hopely thought about it, the more she could see that it could apply to her as well. Hopely had been focusing on the sadness of her unborn foal. That foal was gone, aborted before it could have a chance at life, and Hopely had felt guilty over not allowing this foal to grow up.

However, this event did not need to define her; it didn't need to control her life. She didn't need to keep beating herself up over it. She couldn't change it; there was nothing to be gained by continuing to mope.

She offered the newly named Felicity a smile. She was glad that the changeling pretending to be a pony had stumbled onto her doorstep.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

'Summer Lightfall!'

Summer's eyes popped open as the hoarse whisper filled the air in her cell. She had been a light sleeper since her imprisonment; the need to wake at a moment's notice had saved her life plenty of times in the past.

'Summer Lightfall!' the voice came again. She sat up and looked towards the ceiling, half expecting it to be TANTALUS that was calling to her. It was not, standing in the doorway to her cell was none other than Sprocket himself.

'Sprocket? What are you doing here?' Summer asked.

'It's time! Come on! Karkov is gathering us!' Sprocket said, grinning madly.

Excellent, Summer had been looking forward to meeting Viktor Karkov, she had heard so much about him, yet so little of him was seen. He did work in the Steel Mill, but in the day and a half that Summer had been at Nagadan, she had not seen him once. This had apparently been by design; Viktor Karkov had been a major in the Præsidium's Second Shock Army who had been imprisoned here for killing his commanding officer. That made him something of a 'high profile' prisoner, they had to be careful, if someone was noticed speaking to Karkov, then the guards would know something was up.

Sprocket had been made prisoner-foreman of the Steel Mill, a position that he had held for longer than anyone could remember, including himself, as such, he was the only one who could speak to Viktor Karkov without arousing the suspicions of the guards. The planning of the breakout had all been Karkov's ideas, passed to the rest of the conspirators through Sprocket. Summer wondered for a moment, who these others were, she figured that she would be meeting them as well.

Summer trotted over to her cell door, only to find that it was unlocked, in fact, the lock on her door was broken. It must have been like this since she had got here. Sprocket pushed open Summer's cell door and waved for her to follow. 'The locks go bad on these doors all the time when it gets cold, they don't bother to fix them; they figure what is the point? Where would we go after all?' Sprocket said with a grin. 'Time to show them their folly!'

…

She took a deep breath, it was time. Sjaak De Vries patted her on the back to reassure her. After all, it wasn't like this was the first time that she'd gone out onto a stage and spoken in front of a crowd when it was, quite frankly, the absolute last thing that she wanted to do.

Sparky Starlight trotted out onto the stage, and stepped up to the podium, her notes of what she'd be speaking about sat written on two sheets of holopaper in front of her. She took a deep breath and used her telekinesis to pull the microphone down to her mouth so that she could speak.

'I just wanted to thank you all for coming out today, it's a pleasure to have the members of the press here with us for this historic announcement', Sparky said, feeling like she was going to vomit. She hated talking in front of crowds with a passion, but as administrator of Station BRIGHTHOUSE at the Whitetail Industrial Complex, this was all part of the job. There was a glass of water that had been left on the podium for her, she took a drink from it and smiled at the crowd.

'Six months ago, during the [i]_Discovery One[/i]_'s trek to the gas giant Tartarus, Mission Commander Ice Wind reported to FutureTec controllers that there was a large metallic asteroid that they'd just passed. Preliminary surveys done by the [i]_Discovery One_[/i] crew determined that the asteroid, dubbed X57 was rich in heavy metals, the most important being osmium, and iridium, which, as you are all aware these two elements are highly sought after for their use in armour plating for the ships of our navy. Alongside the metal deposits, X57 is equally rich in helium-3, which is, of course, an essential part of the fuel cycle of our fusion reactors. The [i]_Discovery One_[/i] command crew informed us that the forty five kilometre long asteroid was on a slow course towards Belleau, and calculations done by the ship's on board Hannibal-class Virtual Intelligence informed us that it would be passing between Belleau and our moon, Selena, at the end of February of next year. It is my pleasure to announce to you today, that FutureTec intends to bring this asteroid, X57, into orbit around Belleau, where it will be strip mined for resources. Estimates of the He-3 count on the asteroid project that it has the capability to power every fusion reactor on Belleau for the next one hundred and fifty years, this is not an opportunity that can be passed up', Sparky finished before taking another drink of water.

She let everything that she just said sink in to the reporters before her for a moment before speaking again. 'We have time for a few questions…' she said before every reporter in the crowd's forelegs had shot up.

'Miss Starlight! Have you considered the dangers of bringing such an asteroid into orbit?' one of the reporters shouted out.

'Oh of course we have, bringing a forty five kilometre long asteroid into orbit is no easy task, there was a lot of complex math that was involved in calculating the asteroid's trajectory, one wrong calculation, and the asteroid either hits our world and destroys all life, or it hits Selena and causes a tidal shift which will kill us all. Neither of those prospects is very appealing. We've gone over the math nearly a hundred times, the absolute worst thing that could happen would be a slight rise in sea levels when X57 enters orbit, which we are projecting to be no higher than a centimetre at the absolute highest', Sparky said confidently. 'Next question…'

…

Sparky pushed open the door to the washroom and dashed into the first open toilet, promptly vomiting into it. Oh she hated talking in front of large crowds. Hated it! She was lucky that she'd been able to hold it back this long! She let out a deep sigh before rising to her hooves and flushing the vomit down the toilet. She went back over to the sink and cleaned herself up a bit before leaving the washroom entirely.

To her surprise, Dizzy Doo was standing outside, leaning against the wall; she looked up and Sparky and smiled. 'Hey!' she said as she trotted up to her, planting a kiss on her lips.

Sparky wrapped her forelegs around Dizzy and kissed her back. 'Hey', Sparky said softly as she held her mare friend tightly.

'You did great!' Dizzy said brightly as the two of them released their embrace.

Sparky merely let out a sigh. She'd been incredibly nervous during the entire thing. Sparky Starlight had always been a shy mare while growing up. Before a couple of months ago, she'd grown up with only two friends in her life, Dula Heartstrings, who was currently the Chief of Navy for the Equestrian Republican Navy, and ten years her senior, and the recently deceased Shortfuse Skydancer. She'd met Dizzy Doo a few months ago after a bit of soul searching had practically dumped her on her doorstep. The two had become fast friends since then, and had now grown to something more.

Dizzy Doo was a nephite, a member of a religious group from out west, thanks to that, the two had radically differing cultures that sometimes clashed with each other, but thanks to Sparky's kind and caring personality, the two of them ended up being perfect for each other. The biggest difference between the two cultures was their views on sexuality, the general social liberalism held by the majority of citizens of the Equestrian Republic didn't see much of a problem with casual sex, so long as safe measures were taken to prevent accidental pregnancy, and even in the modern era, the problem of accidental pregnancy was practically non-existent thanks to improvements in medical science. Of course, the homosexual relationship that the two of them shared would have made that a non-issue entirely.

The Nephites, on the other hoof saw it differently; their spiritual beliefs saw sex to be something special to be shared only between those who had made a lifelong commitment to each other, marriage, something that was becoming rarer and rarer in the rest of the Republic. Sparky respected Dizzy's beliefs on the subject, but still took every opportunity to make teasing sexual advances on her, which would cause her mare friend to turn an adorable shade of pink every time.

'Thanks', Sparky said with a smile. 'It went better than I thought it was going to… I've been working on this for a while'.

'Yes you have…' Dizzy said, a coy smile forming on her face as she leaned forward and whispered into Sparky's ear. 'And you deserve something… special'.

Sparky turned bright red, Dizzy wasn't seriously suggesting… Sparky stopped herself; she saw what Dizzy was doing. 'That's… that's not funny', she said.

Dizzy couldn't help but giggle. 'It's a little funny', Dizzy added with a widening grin. 'Anyway, I'm thinking ice cream, sound good? I do love me some vanilla!'

Sparky sighed and nodded her head. 'Twit', she muttered under her breath as the two left the Whitetail Industrial Complex and headed out for ice cream.


End file.
